It was an extraordinary moment – the head of America's largest public pension fund publicly ripping a vendor for delays and cost overruns in a computer project.

Now, nearly two years after the tirade by CalPERS board President Rob Feckner, that project is wrapping up. On Sept. 19, CalPERS debuts its new computer system.

It's two years late and $228 million over its original budget.

The extent of the troubles makes the California Public Employees' Retirement System project notable even in a state bureaucracy that often struggles to deliver technology upgrades.

"We definitely hit some bumps in the road," said Karen Ruiz, project manager for the giant pension fund.

It's also been a drain for Accenture, which installed the system. While it has earned $269 million in fees – or about half the project total – the New York firm says the job hasn't been profitable.

"Accenture's costs have exceeded our fixed contract price," said Jens Egerland, a managing director at the firm, in a statement to The Bee.

The system, a blend of hardware and software, cost CalPERS about $506 million. That's $228 million over the original budget. However, CalPERS spokesman Brad Pacheco said that includes $74 million in features added later. CalPERS calculates the true overruns at $154 million, he said.

CalPERS' project is hardly the first state computer system to go over budget. An overhaul of state court computers has ballooned from $260 million to nearly $2 billion, the Bureau of State Audits reported earlier this year.

Still, the CalPERS overruns are striking, said Michael Krigsman of Boston tech consultant Asuret Inc., who has followed the project off and on.

"Many government projects are late or over budget, but this is pretty significant," he said.

The system aims to streamline CalPERS' internal operations and make life a little easier for public employees and retirees. It consolidates 49 antiquated systems into one technology platform, eliminating duplication and paperwork.

"Today it's a very cumbersome process that requires a lot of manual intervention," Ruiz said. "That's going to go away."

And, starting next spring, when phase 2 is launched, CalPERS members will have online access to their accounts, said Dale Jablonsky, assistant executive officer.

"For the first time, members will have direct access to their data and will be able to conduct transactions over the Internet," he said.

CalPERS officials praise Accenture's work. But they said the firm misread the project early on.

"I do believe, and Accenture would acknowledge, that they understaffed this project and underestimated its complexity," said Stephen Kessler, the pension fund's deputy executive officer.

Accenture's Egerland called the project "exceptionally difficult," a task made daunting by the reams of CalPERS pension data that had to be collated.

"We recognized the issues the same time the (CalPERS) board did," Egerland said.

The project was announced in late 2006 with a $279 million budget. By 2009, the schedule was slipping and the budget topped $400 million.

At a Dec. 16, 2009, board meeting, Cal-PERS officials exploded in frustration.

"You've put this board and this system's reputation at stake," CalPERS President Rob Feckner thundered at Accenture managing director Tom Hartman during a board meeting. "If our reputation is at risk, so is yours."

Hartman owned up to "serious problems" and added, "It's very embarrassing."

A technology boondoggle was the last thing CalPERS needed. At the time, it was just starting to wrestle with an unrelated bribery scandal.

CalPERS said the public venting, coupled with a private phone conversation with Accenture's chief executive, turned the project around.

Accenture, recognizing the crisis, designated the CalPERS job its "highest risk project in the world," Kessler said. The firm added dozens of staffers to the contract, including a software code team in India, all at Accenture's expense.

"They're taking that out of their hide," Kessler said.

CalPERS scrambled, too. With retirements and other moves, a new team came onboard to supervise. The pension fund took $37 million from elsewhere in its budget to cushion against some of the overruns, Pacheco said.

Since the December 2009 outburst, the project has fallen another year behind schedule and the budget has grown. And it still won't be completely done on Sept. 19; some of the functions will be phased in over the next year or so. Accenture also has warned that the system will require a shakedown period.

"We've crafted a system that should take all involved to a better place over time," Accenture project manager John Nichols told the CalPERS board last month. "But it will be several months before it feels that way."

CalPERS acknowledged the system won't be perfect from Day 1. But the pension fund said it's confident about the system's performance, both short and long term.

"When you see the benefits … it'll be a very successful project, the most ambitious technology project that CalPERS has ever undertaken," said spokesman Robert Udall Glazier.

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